Sunday, December 8, 2013

Drawing Jam Rocks Again!

It was 20 degrees yesterday morning, the coldest day of the
season so far. Peggy and I arrived at Gage Academy at 8:35 a.m., which meant that we could either wait in the warm car or
wait in line outside for 25 minutes before the doors would even open. Without
hesitation, we both headed for the line immediately – and three people were
already ahead of us, shivering as we were!

As I did last year, I spent most of my time in the “Stars of
Seattle” studio, where local celebrities like the Seattle Seafair Pirates, rock band Midday Veiland burlesque performer Miss Kitty Baby posed as models. My favorite “model” was improvisational
jazz bass player Evan Flory-Barnes,
who, unlike the others, didn’t pose – he simply performed his innovative music while
we sketched him. (The life drawing monitor kept interrupting his performance
every 20 minutes to ask him if he wanted a break, which he always declined. I
wanted to shout, “Stop interrupting! Let the man play!”) Sketching while
listening to live, improvisational jazz. . . does it get any better?

After eight hours of drawing, I finally called it a day, and
I’m already looking forward to next year. Rock on, Gage! (To see more of my sketches from Drawing Jam, see my Life Drawing set in my Flickr Photostream.)

12/7/13 Seafair Pirate. Private Reserve Velvet Black ink

12/7/13 Seafair Pirate. Private Reserve Velvet Black ink

12/7/13 Midday Veil. Private Reserve Velvet
Black ink

12/7/13 Seafair Pirate. Private Reserve Velvet
Black ink

Only three people ahead of us in line -- but we still have 25 minutes
to wait in 20-degree weather before we can storm the doors down.

Your sketches are worth the wait in the cold weather. They are very nice. I have gone to those sketching jams in the past, waited in line but never in the bitter cold. It is true to it's title....a jam of serious, fun loving, artistic people crazy enough to stand in line for twelves hours of sketching, painting, listening and talking to other artists, observing people, learning, and sculpturing with clay.